Government closes its eyes to food waste challenge

In a statement issued last week, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs gave a disappointing response to recommendations for action on food waste made by a committee of MPs earlier this year.

The recommendations were based on a long and thorough process of evidence-gathering and consideration, with the committee hearing from charities, including Feedback, supermarkets, and experts in the field of food waste.

But the government has rejected two key recommendations, to adopt a national food waste reduction target in line with the UN global goal to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030, and to require all food businesses over a certain size to publicly report their food waste figures. It gave a lukewarm reception to other recommendations

It seems that far from ramping up its early ambition on food waste, the government has decided it’s time to put its head in the sand on the massive challenge of food waste, and the social and climate disaster that, unchecked, it represents.